Electric railway signaling appliance.



PATENTED DEC. 19, 1905. H. A. AMMANN & A. D. CAMPBELL. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SIGNALING APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 6. 1905.

Q q INVENTORS Ifmyl .Am rmazvz/ ,Albertfl W610 iv/WK Altomey No. 807,800. PATENTED DEC. 19, 1905. H. A. AMMANN 0 A. 0. CAMPBELL. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SIGNALING APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.6.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. AMMANN AND ALBERT D. CAMPBELL. OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY SIGNALING APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1905.

Application filed. April 6, 1905. Serial No. 254,140.

1'0 a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HENRYA. AMMANN and ALBERT D. CAMPBELL, citizens of the United States, residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of Washin ton, have invented certain new and useful l mprovements in Electric Railway Signaling Appliances; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention, which relates to electric railway signaling, has for its object the provision of an improved appliance, actuated in the movement of a car or train to operate a recording device which may be at the central ofiice and by which the run of a car is automatically recorded, and to operate a bell or the like located in'a dwelling or other house to give timely notice of the approach of a car, regardless of the direction of running.

A feature of the present invention is a circuit making and breaking device adapted to be operated by the trolley or other projection on a car, the device being an improvement on the constructions forming the subjectsmatter of our Letters Patents Nos. 7 36,345 and 737,053, dated, respectively, August 18, 1903, and August 26, 1903, and of our application for patent, Serial No. 226,811, filed October 1, 1904.

Another feature of our present improvements is an electromagnetic recording instrument by which, as above stated, a time- 'record of the runs of the cars is automatically obtained.

Any suitable construction of recorder may be employed in connection with the other features of the invention; but we prefer to use the device which forms the subject-matter of our application for patent, Serial No. 246,171, filed February 17, 1905, and reference is to be had to such application for a full understanding of the construction and operation of the same.

The invention in detail is clearly set forth in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which show a double-acting circuit making and breaking device adapted for a single-track railway;

but it is to be understood that certain of the improvements comprehend the use of single as well as double acting devices, and in other respects the present invention may be variously modified without exceeding the scope of invention as defined by the concluding claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a circuit making and breaking device embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same, the cover being raised. Fig. 3 is an end view of thesame, artly broken away. Fig. 4 is an enlarged etail view of a buffer connection. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the features of the invention and their electrical connections.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 1 designates the casing of the improved circuitmaker and breaker, which is supported, preferably, between and by two trolley-hangers 2 through the medium of end extensions 3. The casing has a hinged lidor cover 4, and removably supported on cleats in said casing is a baseiece 5, which carries the operating parts an which is confined at one end by a cleat 6 and at the other end by a flat spring 7. Pressure applied to the spring releases the base-piece and allows of the ready removal of the latter, and the mechanism carried thereby for repairs or replacement.

The base-piece is slotted, as at 8 9, and pivoted in said slots are levers 10 11, which extend above and below the base-piece, as shown more clearly in Fi 1. Hinged on a pintle 12 to swing vertically against the lower arms of the levers, is a plate or pendulum 13, slotted centrally, as at 14, to straddle the trolley-wire 15. This plate or endulum is in the construction illustrated a apted to be swung to the right or left by engagement with the trolley-wheel .16 of a car moving in either direction on a single track, and' after such movement to assume the vertical position shown in full lines, in which position it is in contact with the lower arms of both levers. The upper arm of lever 11 has rod connection with an arm 17, extending from the shaft 18 of a spring-actuated train of gears 19 for rotating a make-and-break wheel 20. The connection between the lever and arm consists of two rods 21 22, respectively attached to the lever and arm, each rod having a head to which is fastened one end of a spring 23, coiled around both rods. The connection, by reason of its construction, has the double function of transmitting motion from the lever to the arm and of relieving the parts from jar and strain in the.

event that the plate or pendulum is forcibly struck by the trolley-wheel. The make-andbreak wheel is provided with peripheral teeth, the number and disposition of which determine the signal to be sent, and in the rotation of the wheel the teeth are successively engaged by a brush 24, insulated from its support. In the movement of the lever 11 to the position indicated by dotted lines the spring (not shown) of the train of gears 19 is wound, and when the trolley-wheel leaves the pendulum the spring rotates the gears, and with them the make-and-break wheel, whereupon the signal is sent in the manner presently to be described. A similar train of gears is connected with the lever 10 through the medium of an arm 26 and a buffer-rod 27, and a make-and-break wheel 28, having teeth differing in number or disposition from the teeth of the wheel 20, is rotated by the springactuated train of gears. The lever 10 and the signaling means connected therewith are operated by a car moving from ri ht to left through the engagement of the tro ley-wheel and the swing-plate or pendulum.

Leading from the brush 29 for the wheel 28 is a wire 30, supplied with current from a local battery 31, which may be supported by a guy-wire pole. (Not shown.) The brush 24 is connected with the wire 30 by a wire 32 and is insulated from its sup ort in any suitable manner. The trains 0 gears, and consequently the make-and-break wheels, are electrically connected by a wire 33, and 34 is a wire leading from the train of gears 19. In the wires 30 34 is a four-pole switch 35 for disconnecting the circuit when necessary.

36 is the wire of a closed-circuit main line supplied with current from a main battery 37 and grounded in the usual way, or, if desired, said wire may be supplied with current from a direct-current electric-light wire, in which proper resistance is provided.

At 38 in the main line is a relay, the contact-points of which are connected with the main-line wire, while the magnet-coils thereof are connected with the wires 30 34. In the central office is an electromagnetic recording device 35, which, as above stated, may be constructed similarly to the device forming the subject-matter of our application for patent before referred to. The purpose of this recorder is to obtain automatically a record of the time a car passes beneath a signal-box or circuit maker and breaker. The coils of the magnets 36 of the recording device are connected with a wire 37 in which is a local battery 38, and also with a wire 39, and said wires 37 and 39 are connected to the contact-points of a relay 40, the magnets of said said relay being connected with the main line, as shown.

In the main line are a number of relays 41,

ground. Wires 46 46 lead to bells or the like 47 47 in dwelling or other houses and are grounded, as shown. The function of the house-bells is to signal to the occupants the approach of a car, the signal-boxes being located a suflicient distance from a house provided with a bell to give a person desirous of catching a car ample time for preparation. The recorder is operated simultaneously with the sounding of the house-bell, and both operations are obtained in thefollowing manner: The main line is normally a closed circuit, and the bra nch lines are normally open circuits, the contact-boxes, recorder, and bells standing open while the main line is closed. When the swing-plate or pendulum of a signal-box is engaged and moved by the trolley of a passing car, the corresponding train of gears is wound, and when released the local circuit of the boX is made and broken, which breaks and makes the main-line circuit through the action of the relay 38. Each time the mainline circuit is broken the relays 40 and 41 are operated to close the local circuits of the recorder and branch house-bell wire, resultin in the operation of the recorder and bells. The opening and closing of the circuits is effected by the movement of the make-andbreak wheel and the successive engagement of its teeth with the brush. Obviously the number of teeth or the disposition thereof will determine the nature of the bell-signal and the record on the cylinder or disk of the recording instrument. Where the double signal-box is used on a single track, the make-and-break wheels will be fashioned to produce distinctive signals, and the bells and recorder will indicate the direction of movement of the car.

With but slight modification a normally open main-line circuit and normally closed local circuits maybe employed in lieu of those shown and above described.

We claim as our invention 1. In an ap liance of the character described, a signal-box having two electric-circuit making and breaking mechanisms including make-and-break wheels of different form, a lever operatively connected to each mechanism, and a swing-plate or pendulum in the, path of a car-trolley arranged to move said levers successively in opposite direction.

2. In a signal-box, means for making and breaking an electric circuit, including a shaft, an arm on said shaft, a lever, and a connection between the lever and arm consisting of two lapped rods respectively connected at one end with the lever and arm, and a spring connecting the opposite ends of said rods.

3. In an appliance of the character described, a main-line circuit, relays in said circuit, a recording device having a local circuit connected with one of said relays, a house signal-bell having a local circuit connected with another of said relays, and a circuit making and breaking device 0 erated by movement of a car and having a ocal circuit connected with another of said relays.

4. In an appliance of the character described, a main-line circuit, a circuit making and breaking device operated by movement of a car and having a local circuit connected with and controlling the main-line circuit, a recording device and a house signal-bell each having a local circuit connected with and 15 controlled by the main-line circuit.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY A. AMMANN. ALBERT D. CAMPBELL. Witnesses to signature of Henry A. Am-

mann:

JAS. F. ELLIOTT, H. C. SHUoK. b EVitnesses to signature of Albert D. Camp- J. L. DRUMHELLER, J. W. DOUGLAS. 

